We Wandered in a Frenzy
by slightlysmall
Summary: Ten drabbles of various Weasleys, in chronological order. 1. Molly/Arthur. 2. Charlie/Tonks 3. Ron/Hermione 4. George 5. Hermione 6. Rose/Scorpius 7. Lucy/OC 8. Lily Luna 9. OC/OC 10. Ginny
1. You Belong Here

**[Spring 1968]**

For Arthur, the only thing better than Muggle Studies was studying Molly Prewett. They had been dating for nearly three years, and yet still he was fascinated by her. She was more complicated than an electrical outlet - and with more of a spark, too.

They had a special place at the far side of the lake, a nook just for the two of them where secrets passed back and forth and he knew her better than anyone. That's where they were today, in April of their seventh year, as he held Molly Prewett in his arms and studied her.

Suddenly, as the breeze caused ripples in the lake, he pulled away from her and reached for his wand. Underneath this sunlight, everything was perfect, and this was the moment. Arthur didn't want extravagant magic; it would take away from the magic that was _MollyandArthur_. He only conjured a bouquet of flowers.

"Molly, you have the better part of me. You always have and always will. You are the better part of me."

"Arthur, please-"

"You know I'm right." He could feel the sparkle in his eye when he spoke. It was one of the only things he was ever right about. "I know I'm taking control, asking too much of you, Molly. I'm risking my heart for you, but a heart that isn't worth breaking isn't worth anything."

"Arthur, what are you-"

"Molly Prewett, will you marry me?"

"I- yes! Of course!" She kissed him and pulled away, looking suddenly distraught. "It's just... I don't think I can tell my parents yet. I can already hear my mum saying we're too young."

"Do you think we are?"

"You were meant for me. Age has nothing to do with it."

_Word Count: 290_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (London)._

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "You Belong Here" by Anberlin and the prompt Muggle Studies._


	2. Disappear

**[Summer 1991]**

Nymphadora Tonks and Charlie Weasley were the last of the sleepless ones, evading night's calling for hours and hours on the night before the train will take them back to London. They snuck down to the Forbidden Forest. "Quiet, now," Charlie said as he took her hand.

Tonks laughed. Quiet wasn't her strong suit. They found a clearing just a few steps into the forest, secluded enough that they wouldn't be seen. Her head found his chest, his arm around her shoulder, melting into a position that had become so familiar over the past few years, first as friends, but then, finally, as lovers. Now, though, his arm didn't bring her the comfort that it used to. "You're really going, aren't you." It wasn't a question.

"You can come with me, Tonks. You'd love it in Romania, I think. You would."

"I want to be an Auror, Charlie. In Britain. I want to work around people, not... not animals."

"Your loss. I think the dragons are less complicated."

"You would think that." She got up in a huff and ran toward the castle.

"Wait for me! Will you wait for me?"

She didn't answer.

* * *

The southeastern edge of Romania, where the country touched the Black Sea, was like a wasteland. It was here they kept their dragons, and it was here Charlie worked. He was beginning to think that Tonks was right; maybe he should have worked with people. Care of Magical Creatures hadn't prepared him for this kind of exposure to dragons, and even through his thick gloves, he could feel the burns on his arm.

Dragon fire left the air always thick and smoky, and Charlie sometimes had difficulty breathing. It was easier to blame the dragons, after all, than the tightness in his chest from missing Nymphadora Tonks. After a long day at work, he went to a small bay along the Black Sea to watch the waves coming toward him. He felt so alone, but even that wasn't enough of a word. Tonks never wrote him, not once, and his mum never mentioned her. He was the one to leave, but he felt left behind.

In the distance, the horizon disappeared in a layer of mist that got thicker and thicker, the sea disappearing with it. He imagined Tonks, while he watched, and every day he returned, but the image grew foggy in the mist, slowly disappearing into time.

With arms wide, standing on the beach, he answered his own question, the one he asked months ago, the one she left hanging unanswered in the air between them. "I'll wait for you. I will. I won't settle for anyone else."

_Word Count: 444_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (Reykjavik)._

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "Disappear" by Anberlin and the prompt animals._


	3. DismantleRepair

**[Summer 1997]**

"Harry, you got a minute?"

"Of course." Harry followed Ron into his bedroom, looking over his shoulder for Molly. Somehow, it was all clear. He shut the door and Ron quickly cast a _Muffliato_.

"What do you know about girls?"

Harry swallowed uncomfortably. "Not much."

"Er, Hermione's a girl. Did you realize that?"

"It crossed my mind once or twice, yes."

Ron crossed his arms. "I don't know what to do about her! I mean, she got here last night, and the four weeks since school felt like years. I had her full attention and we talked about everything. Life, God, death, her family. It was great."

"What's the problem then?" Harry didn't see how he could help. He'd been wrestling with the problem of Ron-and-Hermione for at least three years and still he had no answers.

"I just - well, if life had background music, it plays her song. And you know, I tried to escape it..." He made a face and Harry thought of Lavender. "But the orchestra plays on. It's like she's a pre- what's the word for the first part of the music?"

"Prelude?"

"Yeah. Call it a prelude. I can't stop thinking about her. But she's a riddle, mate. She belongs in Ravenclaw. Her words can be brilliant sometimes, but lines, phrases... sometimes they cut like knives."

Harry didn't know where he was going with this. He shrugged. "That's what you two do to each other. Dismantle. Repair. You'll figure it out."

Ron didn't seem to be listening, just spilling out the words from his brain. "It's not like I hang on every word she says, I mean sometimes she talks a bloody lot, but the things she repeats are the ones that stick. She's amazing."

"What are you so worried about, then?"

"We're going off together, right? Skiving school, just the three of us, and she's going to be there all the time. And there are two things I really need to keep from her. The thing is, they are the hardest to keep from her."

"What are they?"

"Secrets, for one. And also, er, hands."

Harry couldn't suppress his grin.

_Word Count: 357_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (Cannes)._

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song " ." by Anberlin and the prompt riddle._


	4. Breathe

**[Summer 1999]**

George looked in the mirror where his twin looked back at him. This time, for the first time, he didn't cry. "Hi Fred," he said to his half-earless twin, who said the same thing back. "Are you ready to make the world happy again?" Seeing a smile on his face - on his brother's face - in the mirror, he realized everyone had been right.

It had been a long struggle, but it finally opened up his eyes. But change wasn't easy with a civil war inside. He reached up to his missing ear. Scars are forever, even the ones that weren't visible.

"It's time, George," Ron told him, one day at the Burrow. "It's been more than a year, and the world needs your jokes. Although no one needs them more than you do."

"I miss your smile, mate," Lee Jordan added. "You've lived a war-torn life, George. I know that. We all have. And I know none of us can miss Fred more than you do. But please surrender."

"I can't return to who I was before."

"We don't expect you to. But we want you to be who you are now, and not just a George-shaped shell." George couldn't resist the change; he knew he needed it. So the three of them spent two full days cleaning out Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

As the dust cleared away, he felt like he could finally breathe, like the world had been revived. He wasn't FredandGeorge anymore, but he could be George, by himself.

After all, Fred would be there every time he looked in the mirror. And maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

_Word Count: 274_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition with the prompt Berlin._

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "Breathe" by Anberlin and the prompt joke._


	5. Naive Orleans

**[Autumn 1999]**

"I've run out of excuses," Hermione said as she sat beside Ron. "I finished school. I took my N.E.W.T.s. I have a job lined up. I have to go."

"What are you talking about? You know can stay here."

"Of course I know that. But I can't let myself. I'm sitting beside you, but my heart's in Australia. My parents have been Wendell and Monica Wilkins long enough."

* * *

It took her three weeks to find them. There were two Monica Wilkinses in Sydney. One was six. The other was fifty-eight. In Melbourne she had less - or more - luck: there weren't any Wilkinses at all.

She found them in Canberra's yellow pages. They owned a small dental business on the outskirts of town. A receptionist met her inside. "Hi, um, I'm here to see Wendell and Monica?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, it's personal."

"They don't take personal business at work." Hermione had hoped it wouldn't have to come to this, but she could cast a fabulous Confundus charm.

She made her way to the back. She and Monica had the same hair, the same nose. Her mother seemed so comfortable working on a patient, like nothing had ever changed. Hermione coughed.

Monica looked up, furrowing her brow. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I mean, I was... just hoping to talk to you and your husband."

A flicker appeared in her eye of something like recognition, but it was gone in an instant. "Please wait in the lobby."

A few minutes later, when Hermione saw both of her parents in front of her, she had to keep herself from kissing them. "Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins, thank you for meeting with me. I have something important to discuss with you."

"Just wait a minute. We don't even know-"

"Monica. This is her. This is the girl I've been dreaming about. Can we please just listen?"

She nodded.

"I can't think of an easy way to say this, so... I'm your daughter." Her full explanation spilled out of her mouth too quickly to make much sense.

Wendell - her father - looked at her, as if trying to sort out the logic. "You're saying your actions have written our story. We were your little _project_. Your magic named us, sent us here, erased our memories of our _daughter_?"

"Well, yes." She hadn't realized how it would sound.

"I finally found out life goes on without you, and you come waltzing in here to tell me that my life is a lie. If you expect me to just... go back to England, I'm not going. I want nothing to do with your magic."

"But-"

"No. You're my daughter, though. I know this, and you're welcome to visit."

"Wendell..." Monica implored.

"I'm sorry. We have our own life here."

"We love you - Hermione, did you say? What were we thinking? Anyway, we do love you. Thanks for letting us know."

Hermione nodded and walked away.

_Word Count: 499_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (Canberra)._

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "Naive Orleans" by Anberlin and the prompt project._


	6. Inevitable

**[Autumn 2023]**

"So you and Bryan? Is it over now?" Scorpius asked her in the aftermath.

"Completely. I feel like it had never begun. I love _you_ and I always have. Only you."

He leaned over to kiss her temple. "I love you too, Rose." He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her bare belly. "Do you remember when we were just kids? First and second years who would talk and laugh until we forgot our last names?"

"Of course. I loved those days. It's amazing how life turns out sometimes. The people we hurt worst are the only ones we ever loved." She rolled over to face him, leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

"I'm sorry I hurt you, too."

Rose shrugged and laughed against him. "I guess we were just trying to compete with our parents for most mistakes. Speaking of which... just wait until your father hears about this."

"That will be a fun conversation to have. But for now... can we just live in the moment?"

"Absolutely." Rose tried to take in everything, the way his muscled body felt against her back, his hand on her own fleshy stomach, the way his breath raised the hairs on the back of her neck. She wanted to capture every breath and stop time. Break every clock.

"You know, I only have one regret."

She rolled over to face him. "You do?"

"We waited too long, Rose. I didn't get to be your first kiss."

"I wasn't yours, either."

He frowned. "No, you weren't. But I want today to be your last first kiss. And mine."

Rose rolled on top of him and kissed him hard. "I'd like that," she said. "Now we just have to find a way to stay in moments like these forever."

_Word Count: 305_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (Paris)_

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "Inevitable" by Anberlin and the prompt father._


	7. Paperthin Hymn

**[Autumn 2025]**

She couldn't stand people. That's what brought her to Ireland in the first place. There were so many people to escape - reporters, sisters, fathers who happen to be Minister for Magic - and she finally was Lucy. Just Lucy.

So why wasn't she at peace? Her only friends were hotel rooms and hands were distant lullabies. For a while she had Declan, but he left when she told him she thought she was pregnant. Now in the Cauldron O'Gold, she was feeling less than golden. A traveling violinist took up the room next to her, and its complaints kept her company.

A knock on the door. "Lucy, you in there?"

"Declan?" She pulled on a shabby coat and opened the door. "Why are you back?"

"You aren't pregnant?"

"No, I'm not."

"And you won't get pregnant?"

She batted her eyelashes, figuring out what it was he wanted. "Not if we're careful. _Slightly_ less desperate."

"I came prepared. I just want another chance to put my arms around you." She leaned up for the inevitable kiss.

Lucy didn't love him. He wasn't the kind of person to drop a note on Sunday mornings, or walk her home, or ask her how her family was. He probably would never even kiss her goodnight. But he would give her a sleepless night, and sleepless nights were a kind of bitter oblivion. She was already lost in the chaos of her own life. She may as well forget herself, too.

_Word Count: 247_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (Cairo)._

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "Paperthin Hymn" by Anberlin and the prompt people._


	8. Soft Skeletons

**[Autumn 2030]**

"Lily- No, Lily, what are you doing?" Rose ran to her cousin's side, slumped on the floor of the bathroom against the toilet. Even as a Healer, she had to keep herself from leaning over Lily and retching.

Bloodstains covered her wrists, and Lily's head drooped down. Rose slapped her. "Lily Luna, look at me!" She pressed her hand hard against Lily's wrist, not caring about the pain she likely added. "There's still life in your veins."

Rose did what she could to close the wounds in her cousin's wrists, and after what felt like hours, Lily's breaths became deeper and she began to blink. "Thank Merlin, Lily. You're all right."

"No. I'm not," she said weakly.

"What happened? What made you do it?"

"Everything. I'm tired of being Harry Potter's daughter. I'm twenty-two for Merlin's sake! And Liam... he's been cheating on me for months. Remember Emma Davies?"

Rose held Lily's hand, clasped in her own. It was covered in tear stains and bruises. "Did he do this to you?"

She nodded. "When I told him to be a man and choose between us. I thought... I thought I would make the choice easier. No one would miss me anyway."

"I would, Lily. I would. You've always been my favorite cousin."

It took her too much effort to smile. "You mean that?"

"Of course I do. Please, please don't try this again. I love you. If the pain returns, I'll heal what I can and I'll be here to walk beside you through the rest. You won't win this war if you're too afraid to fight in it. But I'll fight, too, Lily. I'll fight, too."

_Word Count: 277_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (Dublin)_

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "Soft Skeletons" by Anberlin and the prompt Suicide._


	9. Retrace

**[Winter 2046]**

Cassiopeia Malfoy wasn't sure why she came back. Her family had moved away since then, back to their castle from their summer of suburbs. But for Cassi, nowhere else had ever felt like home. After all, this was where she met Jake.

She walked past his house, retracing the steps they'd taken on their very last date, that lost summer night, holding hands like everything would be all right. It was so much easier to forget when she was away at Hogwarts, but she had graduated and on this street she couldn't forget her lies, her broken words that ended it.

It was the middle of the night, a clear sky, and she could see the constellation she was named for. She stopped on the pavement outside her old house and lay down, staring at the stars and counting backwards. A meteor shower began, star out of star falling out of the sky and blurring in front of her identity. She didn't find it beautiful.

"Cassi? What are you doing here?"

She sat up. "Jake? I... I finished school. But I needed peace. I couldn't live... I was stuck in my memories. Your photograph's been haunting me."

He knelt beside her and she blushed at his nearness. "Why didn't you tell me sooner that you were a witch?"

"You wouldn't have believed me."

"You lied to me. But I can't help but wonder... I mean, it's so hard to fall asleep alone. Everything screams your name. I've missed you, Cass."

"I've missed you, too. I would love to have you back, but I understand if you can't-"

His face was silhouetted by the falling stars behind him. "I don't want you disappearing again."

"I wouldn't. I won't. I mean, Jake, I love you. I always have."

He pulled her close and leaned in to kiss her.

"Jake? Who is it? What are you doing?"

"It's Cassi. She's back, Mum." His mum's presence didn't stop him, and their kiss tasted like the past and the future all at once.

Cassiopeia wasn't sure if it was just an imprint from the meteor shower, but there were stars in her eyes.

_Word Count: 358_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (Kuala Lampur - Romance/angst)_

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "Retrace" by Anberlin and the prompt live._


	10. Stationary Stationery

**[Winter 2050]**

Dear Mum,

Do they not have quill or parchment where you are? Of course I know they don't, but I miss hearing from you. It's been ages. Do you remember all the notes you used to write me? "Dear Ginevra," you always said. I hated how you refused to call me Ginny. I still read them. The pages are still scented with your perfume.

Oh, Mum. It's so difficult. I thought you'd come find me. I wish you could come back to me. We spoke the night before you died, remember? You told me you'd come back and speak to me in the morning, but Dad needed you. You said Dad was dying and he needed you.

Why didn't you say that you were dying, too? You always seemed so strong to me. Even at one hundred, I couldn't imagine you dying. You were always supposed to be here for me. Always.

I hope you really are in a better place with Dad. I hope you two are still together. You were such a good example for us. I know how much you loved him, even after you began to lose him to Dementia. I know he loved you, too. I know it.

Sometimes, when I clean, I put on Celestina Warbeck and it makes me relive so many memories. Like when we stayed at Auntie Muriel's and I could hardly breathe I missed Harry so and you played love songs until I got sick. And what you told me about dancing with Fred in my room before I was born. I still dance, the best I can, even when music isn't playing. But I'm getting older, too. I don't think I have your grace.

Letters won't do. I want to see your face in more than just pictures and when I look in the mirror. When will I get to meet you? Do you know when I will join you?

I love you, Mum. Always.

Yours,

Ginevra Molly Weasley Potter

_Word Count: 331_

_For the Globetrotter Drabble Competition (Jerusalem)_

_For the Song Fic Boot Camp with the song "Stationary Stationery" by Anberlin and the prompt always._


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